Saturday, January 3, 2015

From Kenn's Drawing Table: Bateleur Eagle

Kenn Writes:

Work in progress: Bateleur Eagle

This very distinctive eagle is one of my favorite African birds. I had seen many in Kenya in the past, but on our November trip to South Africa's Kruger National Park we saw them every day. On one of our last full days in the park, Kimberly spotted a Bateleur perched right by the road and we were able to observe it at close range for an hour. I'm working on a couple of full-scale paintings of this species, both perched and in flight, but I wanted to start with a closeup study of the unusual head feathering and facial skin coloration.